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House Passes Farm Bill With Provisions That Weaken Organic, Poison Waterways And Harm Endangered Species
House Passes Farm Bill With Provisions That Weaken Organic, Poison Waterways And Harm Endangered Species
(Beyond Pesticides, June 26, 2018)
On June 21, 2018, the controversial 2018 Farm Bill (H.R. 2) narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives 213 to 211 with provisions that will eliminate federal review of pesticide impacts on endangered species, undermine organic standards, and ease requirements regarding releases of pesticides into waterways. In May, the bill failed to pass when it got caught in the debate over immigration reform, but now this dangerous bill is much closer to becoming a major threat to the environment.
The bill, H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, is a major win for the pesticide industry, which spent $43 million on lobbying this Congressional season, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. At the forefront are provisions that weaken the organic standards and the elimination of the requirement that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) assess pesticide impacts on endangered species before U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approves a pesticide for use. The bill also exempts those applying pesticides to lakes, streams, and rivers from having a permit under the Clean Water Act. This will allow indiscriminate contamination of waterways in spite of reports that pesticides are detected frequently and at environmentally relevant concentrations in U.S. waterways.
The House Farm Bill weakens organic standards with provisions that:
- Permit the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sidestep the NOSB in allowing toxic post-harvest handling substances (sanitizers) to be used in organic production;
- Change the classification of types of people who may be appointed to the NOSB by adding employees of farmers, handlers, and retailers;
- Force consideration of allowing the use of products in organic that are subject to weaker standards of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and
- Give USDA greater direct and indirect power to change the materials allowed in organic production to favor producers who do not meet all the criteria traditionally considered to be required of organic certified operations –such as hydroponics, poultry houses without real access to the outdoors, and dairy operations without meaningful pasture.
The House Farm Bill includes provisions that:
- Amend the federal pesticide law to pre-empt local governments from restricting pesticide use on private property within their jurisdictions;
- Exempt the use of pesticides from the Endangered Species Act, effectively dooming hundreds of endangered species to extinction and making it legal to kill any endangered species with a pesticide at almost any time;
- Eliminate litigation as a remedy when pesticide decisions threaten endangered species;
- Eliminate all protections under the Clean Water Act when toxic pesticides are sprayed directly into rivers and streams;
- Enact the “Pesticide Registration Improvement Act,” providing long-term funding to EPA for expedited processing of pesticide approvals, without accompanying measures to ensure that farmworkers and other pesticide applicators are safe;
- Weaken restrictions on the use of the highly toxic ozone deplete, methyl bromide; and
- Provide state pesticide regulatory agencies a secret chance to slow or effectively veto EPA pesticide protections before they are proposed.
The bill is also controversial because of proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as food stamps. House Republicans have pushed for measures that would increase the number of recipients who must work in order to receive food stamps, including limiting states’ abilities to waive those requirements in areas with poor economies.
The Senate version of the 2018 farm bill thus far does not include these dangerous threats to environmental protections or any changes to the SNAP program — leading some to believe that the House version is unlikely to pass into law.
Farm bills are massive, providing funding for diverse programs including food aid, crop subsidies, rural development, conservation and efforts to stem the opioid crisis in rural communities. The last bill came into effect in 2014, two years behind schedule, after extensive congressional negotiations and partisan fights over food stamps.
The Senate version recently passed out of committee and is expected to sail through the full Senate this week. The bipartisan Senate bill also amends a standard setting provision in the Organic Foods Production Act, opening the way to new interpretations of law and broader changes in the conference between the House and Senate.
Beyond Pesticides opposes any provisions in the Farm Bill that amend the standard setting procedures of the federal organic law and believes that no improvements are worth the damage that can be done to the standard-setting process and public trust in the organic market and the organic seal in the marketplace. Beyond Pesticides is urging that conferees in House-Senate Farm Bill conference later in the session eliminate amendments that change any aspect of organic standard setting under the Organic Foods Production Act.
Source: Center for Biological Diversity, EcoWatch, US PIRG
Biodegradable Growth And Seed Plug Processed Automatically
Flier Systems presents automatic Growcoon Dispenser
Biodegradable Growth And Seed Plug Processed Automatically
Flier Systems, a Dutch automation company for the horticultural industry, has expanded its assortment with the Growcoon dispenser, in which the biodegradable growth and seed plug Growcoon is automatically processed. With this expansion, Flier Systems is contributing to the rapid advancement of the seed plug that was introduced in 2015.
The entire Growcoon presentation during the GreenTech was handled by Flier Systems, Klasmann-Deilmann, and Maan. As title, they chose 'The road to optimal growth' and through various activities around GreenTech, they formalized this theme.
Optimal growth and combined techniques
'The road to optimal growth' has been chosen as a theme because the biodegradable growth and seed plug contribute to a fast, high-quality and uniform development of seedlings and optimal growth of the plant. The unique product characteristics of the Growcoon are strengthened by material and system suppliers. They integrate the Growcoon into their products to maximize the benefits of the plug. In the Growcoon stand various tray, technology and system suppliers presented the successful integration of the Growcoon into their own products.
Everything for the plant
"By using the Growcoon, crops are delivered quickly and the user achieves uniform growth. In addition, the waste in the cultivation process decreases, and production processes become more efficient. All these advantages come about at the development of the Growcoon." During this entire process, just one question is really important: what is best for the plant? "In addition to the compact binding of the root ball, the primary function of a growth and seed plug, the Growcoon creates a 100% natural nutrient medium."
For more information:
Flier Systems B.V.
info@fliersystems.nl
www.fliersystems.nl
Publication date: 6/21/2018
House of Representatives Passes Farm Bill by 213-211 Vote
House of Representatives Passes Farm Bill by 213-211 Vote
The House of Representatives passed the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (Farm Bill) yesterday by a 213 to 211 vote. No Democrats voted for the bill based on their opposition to expansion of the work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as Food Stamps). The Senate is expected to vote on their version of the Farm Bill next week. The current Farm Bill expires on September 30 of this year.
The House version
clarifies issues relating to crop insurance for organic production,
- clarifies eligibility for organics to the Market Access Programs (foreign market promotion efforts subsidized by USDA),
- authorizes up to $30,000,000 annually for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative and allows for projects on soil-health to compete for those grants,
- clarifies regulatory requirements for auditors that conduct certifications outside of the United States,
- establishes permission for the Secretary of Agriculture to develop methods for the expedited review of post harvest handling materials related to food safety as it pertains to the National List,
- clarifies that employees (and not just owners) may serve as members of the National Organic Standards Board,
- establishes a task force that shares information of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration with the NOSB regarding products they deem as having "reasonable certainty than no harm will result" that NOSB is considering for inclusion or exclusion from the National List,
- explicitly allows for the sharing of business confidential information during investigation and enforcement actions by members of the industry, auditors and government employees,
- gives access to the NOP to import databases of other agencies that monitor and regulate imports,
- requires NOP to give an annual report of their investigations to Congress,
- authorizes USDA to impose additional documentation requirements for products at higher risk of fraud,
- requires USDA to update their regulations on which types of entities will still be exempt from organic certification requirements (brokers and certain handlers),
- authorizes increases to the NOP budget from $15,000,000 per year in 2018 to $24,000,000 by 2023, and
- creates a mandatory funding source of $5,000,000 per year through 2023 for NOP investment in trade tracking systems and transaction certificates to allow for enforcement and fraud prevention without unduly burdening the industry.
The CSO will continue to monitor the Farm Bill process to minimize any potential negative impacts on organic growers utilizing containers, hydroponic and/or aquaponics in their production systems.
Urban Agriculture Could Transform Baltimore’s Blighted Neighborhoods
Urban Agriculture Could Transform Baltimore’s Blighted Neighborhoods
Linked by Michael Levenston
City-Hydro, an urban farm that grows microgreens for local restaurants, is piloting an onsite growing program for restaurants. (Kenneth K. Lam)
Today, there are more than 100 community and school gardens in Baltimore, as well as more than 20 urban farms and several organizations working to support urban producers.
By Brent Flickinger
Baltimore Sun
May 30, 2018
Excerpt:
Successful examples abound. The Black Church Food Security Network supports growing food on church-owned properties. Another local example is the highly successful “hoop house” greenhouse project at Civic Works in Clifton Park, now operating for eight years. Such hoop houses are popular all over the world; in England, 90 percent of strawberries are grown in these, and use of toxic pesticides and herbicides is avoided. Further, the recent outbreak of E. Coli in lettuce grown in Arizona ought to provide further motivation to get fresh, clean, local food.
Neighborhood-based agriculture builds community spirit and self-confidence as people work together in positive relationships to do the work of farming. In addition, worker co-ops and entrepreneurship lead to more money circulating in the neighborhoods and, for some, healthier eating and less dependence on a job elsewhere.
Secretary Perdue Statement on 2018 Farm Bill Passing the House of Representatives
Secretary Perdue Statement on 2018 Farm Bill Passing the House of Representatives
(Washington, D.C., June 21, 2018) — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed their version of the 2018 Farm Bill:
“I applaud Chairman Conaway and the House Agriculture Committee for their diligence and hard work in passing their 2018 Farm Bill through the House of Representatives. American producers have greatly benefited from the policies of the Trump Administration, including tax reforms and reductions in regulations, however, a Farm Bill is still critically important to give the agriculture community some much-needed reassurance.
No doubt, there is still much work to be done on this legislation in both chambers of Congress, and USDA stands ready to assist with whatever counsel lawmakers may request or require.”
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Switzerland To Vote On Country-Wide Pesticide Ban
Switzerland To Vote On Country-Wide Pesticide Ban
(Beyond Pesticides, June 5, 2018) After more than 100,000 Swiss citizens signed a petition calling for a ban on pesticides, Switzerland will soon have to vote on a complete ban on the use of synthetic pesticides. The ban would apply to farmers, industries, and imported goods, and advocates hope this measure would cause other EU nations to follow.
Switzerland, home of the world’s largest pesticide manufacturer, Syngenta, has been engaged in the debate raging across the European Union (EU) about the future use of pesticides. Recently, the EU reapproved glyphosate (Roundup) after months of deadlock, while certain countries like France have indicated that it will ban the chemical within three years. Now, the Swiss initiative, according to the BBC, will make it the first country in Europe to ban all synthetic pesticides, and the second in the world after Bhutan imposed a ban in 2013.
Swiss group, Future3, advocated for a ban and began collecting signatures in a crowd-funded initiative. More than 100,000 signatures have been collected, and on May 25, the details of the signatures will be checked and transferred to the Federal Council – the Swiss federal cabinet – which has one year to give recommendations to parliament. The legislators then have two further years to accept the initiative and schedule a vote or to come up with a counter-initiative that could also feature on the ballot. If passed, all synthetic pesticides would be phased out over a period of 10 years.
“To not use any pesticides will trigger a complete change in agricultural practices,” said Antoinette Gilson who is with the Swiss citizens’ group Future3 that are pushing for the ban. “It might be difficult to go through, but in Switzerland already around 13% of farmers are organic. I talk to a lot of them and I have not met one who has regretted giving up pesticides.”
The ban would also apply to imports which could have significant impacts on neighboring countries as Switzerland imports almost 500kg of food per head of population, according to figures from the Federal Customs Administration. Supporters of the initiative think that if the Switzerland vote is eventually carried, it will have reverberated effect on other countries. Unsurprisingly, farmers and industry representatives are dismissive of the idea of the referendum, saying that it is too extreme and will not gain popular support.
With tensions high over the review of Monsanto’s controversial glyphosate, other harmful pesticides, and industry’s influence in decision-making processes, the European Parliament decided to set up a special committee to look into the EU’s authorization procedure for pesticides. The special committee is to assess the authorization procedure for pesticides in the EU and potential failures in how substances are scientifically evaluated and approved.
In April, EU member states backed a proposal to further restrict uses of bee-toxic neonicotinoids finding the pesticides’ outdoor uses harm bees. These restrictions go beyond those already put in place in 2013, and now all outdoor uses of clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam will be banned. The European Commission, the protection of bees is an important issue since it concerns biodiversity, food production, and the environment. The new restrictions agreed to on April 27 go beyond the 2013 ban. All outdoor use of the three substances will be banned and the neonicotinoids in question will only be allowed in permanent greenhouses where no contact with bees is expected. French scientists say parts of their country’s forests, streams, and bucolic landscapes could be completely devoid of birdsong this year, as the results of two recent studies show staggering declines in bird populations throughout the nation linked to the intensification of agricultural practices and pesticide use.
While the U.S. continues to languish in regulatory inertia, the best way to avoid harmful pesticides is to support organic practices in landscapes and agriculture and purchase organic food. Beyond Pesticides has long advocated for organic management practices as a means to foster biodiversity, and research shows that organic land management does a better job of protecting biodiversity than its chemical-intensive counterparts. Instead of the prophylactic use of pesticides and crops bioengineered with insecticides, responsible organic practices focus on fostering habitat for pest predators and ecological balance and only resort to the judicious use of least-toxic pesticides when other cultural, structural, mechanical, and biological controls have been attempted and proven ineffective.
As evidence of the hazardous effects of glyphosate continues to mount, environmental groups, including Beyond Pesticides, are urging localities to ban or restrict the use of the chemical and other toxic synthetic pesticides.
Source: BBC News
Ecological Farming
Whether you are an engineer, a doctor, a mathematician, an astrologist – you should know and participate in farming, because you need food (and food free of chemicals).
Ecological Farming
Today, people are much more aware of organic life and organic growing.
This is not a trend, and organic life is not a new concept to the earth.
Today, we need to speak and write about organic farming and life.
Organic farming is a natural way of farming. Ecological farming, integrated farming, and permaculture are all the same (in principle), while the methods of practice, may be different.
"I was standing in front of my class of students on my first day of teaching at my university." I am not mean I was a teacher, I was standing as a student.
I asked them, what are the impacts of Bt eggplant and GMO. One girl said Monsanto is producing Bt-based crops. One girl asked me, why should I know about GMO? I asked her when you’re hungry, what’ll you do? She said I’ll take food.
Whether you are an engineer, a doctor, a mathematician, an astrologist – you should know and participate in farming, because you need food (and food free of chemicals).
We have rights as to what we have to eat and what we are eating.
If you choose to remain quiet, someone will make the decision(s) for you of what you have to eat.
I tell you one thing – speak to yourself and ask questions. Spend one day, go somewhere and don’t eat food. Ask yourself the following question to your soul …
What is the purpose of my life?
Why am I here?
Who am I?
Am I happy?
Am I healthy?
Am I alright?
I invite you to the beautiful life. I will write what I know to save humans.
- Praveen Xavior Pandiyan
10 Numbers That Show How Much Farmland We’re Losing to Development
10 Numbers That Show How Much Farmland We’re Losing to Development
By Dan Nosowitz on May 22, 2018
This image, courtesy of American Farmland Trust, shows the conversion of agricultural land to urban and low-density residential development between 1992 and 2012.
AFT, Farms Under Threat
American Farmland Trust, which since 1980 has been attempting to save agricultural land in the U.S., has compiled a huge assessment of the movement of farmland between 1992 and 2012 (the latter date being the last that the data required was available).
The organization’s findings, which they are calling “the most comprehensive ever undertaken of America’s agricultural lands,” aren’t hugely shocking, at least at the surface: American farmland is being vacuumed up by development. What’s new, though, is the discovery that the development isn’t coming only from urban areas expanding outwards—rural areas are also losing farmland rapidly.
“The fact is that we have this sort of insidious development that no one’s been paying attention to, and we really need to start paying attention,” says Julia Freedgood, the assistant VP of programs at the AFT.
Why is this happening? There’s no simple answer. One major reason, which has spiraling effects, is that farming is an incredibly difficult and not a very lucrative career path. The average age of the American farmer was nearly 60 in 2012 (the time of the last census); as those farmers retire or pass away, successive generations turn elsewhere for jobs, the land goes fallow and is sold off. Another reason: it’s sometimes simply worth more to sell farmland rather than actually farm the land, especially if that farmland is near a city or town.
“There’s no one to take it over and it’s worth more selling to developers, so why not?” That’s also part of the reason it’s obscenely difficult to find new land for new farmers; land access, according to the National Young Farmers Coalition, is one of the most difficult obstacles for beginning farmers.
This is concerning for a variety of reasons. The obvious one is that farmland produces food, so less farmland means the price of food may rise. The majority of American farmland is devoted to commodity crops—soy, corn, wheat—and many of the uses of those crops are not for direct eating. Much of it, though, is used for animal feed, and if the price of animal feed goes up, so goes the price of meat. And, of course, some of the farmland being lost is for so-called “specialty” crops, like fruits and vegetables. But there are other reasons as well.
Development on farmland can have negative effects, removing land that animals use as a habitat. Well-operated farms care for the soil, air, and water, and produce viable ecosystems. Economically, the agricultural industry employs millions in all sorts of fields, from machinery to inputs to researchers to retailers to packagers.
What it's like to apply for the almost unwinnable U.S. green card lottery
We put together a list of some of the AFT’s findings that should help to add some (scary) context.
10% of the world’s arable acres lie within the United States.
Agriculture contributes $992 billion to the American economy each year.
31 million acres of farmland lost to development, in total, between 1992 and 2012.
That’s 175 acres per hour of agricultural land lost to development—3 acres per minute.
It probably comes as no surprise that the expansion of cities and suburbs are responsible for most of the loss in farmland. But 41% of the lost acres actually came from development in rural areas.
The U.S. lost 11 million acres of America’s best agricultural land—land with superior soil conditions and weather for growing food—from 1992 to 2012.
Best agricultural land for intensive food and crop production in 2012. Source: AFT, Farms Under Threat.
0.43 PVR: PVR stands for Productivity, Versatility, and Resiliency, and it’s a metric the American Farmland Trust uses to rate the quality of farmland. If farmland has a rating above that—say, 0.65—that makes it great farmland. Below that, and it’s subpar. Farmland with a high rating is being lost disproportionately quickly, which means suboptimal farmland will have to be used. And suboptimal farmland requires more water, more transportation, more energy, more fertilizers, and more pesticides to be productive, all of which are bad for the environment.
Just 17% of American land is ideal for farming. We don’t have that much to lose! The amount of the best land lost is about equal to California’s entire Central Valley.
62% of development between 1992 and 2012 took place on agricultural land. The other 38% was primarily forest and simply unused space.
Some types of farmland are more at risk of being swallowed by development than others. 91% of the acreage devoted to fruit trees, tree nuts, and berries are directly in the path of development as they’re located in counties that qualify as either metropolitan areas or immediately adjacent to them.
This report is the first part of a multi-year project to better understand farmland use and loss state-by-state and to better understand the effectiveness of state farmland protection policies. Make sure to read the full, eye-opening “Farms Under Threat” report, and you can also use that link to sign up for updates on the project from the AFT.
Urban Agriculture Could Transform Baltimore's Blighted Neighborhoods
Urban Agriculture Could Transform Baltimore's Blighted Neighborhoods
May 30, 2018 - Brent Flickinger
A new zoning code that went into effect last summer allows urban agriculture and farm stands (after a required zoning board hearing) in all of Baltimore’s residential areas. So now that spring is here, it’s time to get planting.
As a community planner, I know that a thriving neighborhood needs a variety of resources and opportunities. Urban agriculture offers numerous benefits besides the obvious one of providing fresh, locally grown food. It can bring jobs, income and community building — things that are especially needed in Baltimore’s stressed neighborhoods suffering from vacant properties, loss of jobs, substance abuse and crime.
Urban farming is a growing enterprise. Today, there are more than 100 community and school gardens in Baltimore, as well as more than 20 urban farms and several organizations working to support urban producers. The 12 member sites of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore and more than a dozen other farms are growing and selling fresh fruits and vegetables. Farm Alliance members share a website and pool resources to sell their goods at locations around town. Consumers are clamoring for locally grown products. Restaurants often tout these products on their menus. The demand is there. Can community farms meet it?
Baltimore’s latest sustainability plan draft (baltimoresustainability.org) includes a chapter on urban agriculture with recommendations such as creating paths to ownership of land and ensuring that opportunities and supports are made available, specifically to residents who may face high barriers to participate in urban agriculture.
Urban farming requires four skills and activities that can produce income for residents: production, processing, distribution and marketing. At first, these might not all be full-time or high-paying jobs, but they provide opportunities for learning skills to help people move up the ladder. Further, urban farms convert underused buildings and vacant land for productive use in neighborhoods where abandoned properties — historically seen as barren places — can serve as a focus of new economic activity.
Successful examples abound. The Black Church Food Security Network supports growing food on church-owned properties. Another local example is the highly successful “hoop house” greenhouse project at Civic Works in Clifton Park, now operating for eight years. Such hoop houses are popular all over the world; in England, 90 percent of strawberries are grown in these, and use of toxic pesticides and herbicides is avoided. Further, the recent outbreak of E. Coli in lettuce grown in Arizona ought to provide further motivation to get fresh, clean, local food.
Neighborhood-based agriculture builds community spirit and self-confidence as people work together in positive relationships to do the work of farming. In addition, worker co-ops and entrepreneurship lead to more money circulating in the neighborhoods and, for some, healthier eating and less dependence on a job elsewhere.
While organic food, increasingly popular, is traditionally grown in urban gardens and farms, there are “cash crops” with high profit margins that can be cultivated as well. For example, decorative flowers, ginger and comfrey are very profitable. Lavender produces oils used to make candles and soaps. Sedum, a flowering plant easy to maintain, is used on energy-saving “green roofs” and can yield thousands of dollars in profits. As a land use planner, I see opportunities for neighborhoods to use a system of vacant properties to grow a range of products.
There are other opportunities. Bees are necessary for pollination, so beekeeping and harvesting honey could become a business for some. Composting is necessary for building the soil, and composting projects are being created to meet that need. The Baltimore Orchard Project is assisting groups in growing and maintaining fruit trees. Blue Water Baltimore and the Parks and People Foundation lead workshops for those wanting to learn the skills needed for the various kinds of agriculture that are cropping up (literally!) throughout the city.
We don’t need to wait for outsiders to improve things in our neighborhoods. Urban agriculture empowers us to meet these needs through a diversity of locations, occupations, products, and community building.
Let’s seize the initiative to create new opportunities for health and wealth using the latest technology and techniques to produce goods and services in local communities, develop a new base of economic activity, restore neighborhoods and expand hope and pride in our city and region.
Brent Flickinger is a community planner and planning supervisor in the Baltimore City Department of Planning. He can be reached at brenton.flickinger@baltimorecity.gov.
Who Really Owns American Farmland?
Claire
Who Really Owns American Farmland?
The answer, increasingly, is not American farmers.
July 31st, 2017
by Katy Keiffer
We’re used to thinking of escalating rents as an urban problem, something suffered mostly by the citizens of booming cities. So when city people look out over a farm—whether they see corn stalks, or long rows of fruit bushes, or cattle herds roving across wild grasses—the price of real estate is probably the last thing that’s going to come to mind. But the soil under farmers’ feet has become much more valuable in the past decade. While urban commercial real estate has skyrocketed in places like New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., powerful investors have also sought to turn a profit by investing in the most valuable rural real estate: farmland. It’s a trend that’s driving up costs up for the people who grow our food, and—slowly—it’s started to change the economics of American agriculture.
Today, USDA estimates that at least 30 percent of American farmland is owned by non-operators who lease it out to farmers.
Think of it this way: If you wanted to buy Iowa farmland in 1970, the average going price was $419 per acre, according to the Iowa State University Farmland Value Survey. By 2016, the price per acre was $7,183—a drop from the 2013 peak of $8,716, but still a colossal increase of 1,600 percent. For comparison, in the same period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than half as fast, from $2,633 to $21,476. Farmland, the Economist announced in 2014, had outperformed most asset classes for the previous 20 years, delivering average U.S. returns of 12 percent a year with low volatility.
That boom has resulted in more people and companies bidding on American farmland. And not just farmers. Financial investors, too. Institutional investors have long balanced their portfolios by putting part of their money in natural resources—goldmines and coal fields and forests. But farmland, which was largely held by small property owners and difficult for the financial industry to access, was largely off the table. That changed around 2007. In the wake of the stock market collapse, institutional investors were eager to find new places to park money that might prove more robust than the complex financial instruments that collapsed when the housing bubble burst. What they found was a market ready for change. The owners of farms were aging, and many were looking for a way to get cash out of the enterprises they’d built.
Are we looking at a bubble that will burst?
And so the real estate investment trusts, pension funds, and investment banks made their move. Today, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that at least 30 percent of American farmland is owned by non-operators who lease it out to farmers. And with a median age for the American farmer of about 55, it is anticipated that in the next five years, some 92,000,000 acres will change hands, with much of it passing to investors rather than traditional farmers.
But what about the people—often tenant farmers—who actually work the land being acquired? During the same period that farmland prices started gaining steam, many crop prices have stagnated or fallen. After hitting highs above $8 a bushel in 2012, corn prices today have fallen back to less than $4 a bushel—about what they were ten years ago, in 2007, when farmland prices first started to soar.
It’s a tenuous predicament, growing low-cost food, feed, and fuel (corn-based ethanol) on ever-more-expensive land, and it raises a host of questions. Is this a sustainable situation? What happens to small farmers? And are we looking at a bubble that will burst?
Three big factors have contributed to the rapid increase in the prices paid for farmland—which is usually defined to include grazing land and forests—according to Wendong Zhang, an assistant professor of economics at Iowa State University. (Zhang tracks farmland prices, especially Iowa farmland prices, which are among the best documented in the country.)
First, interest rates, since the financial crash of 2007–2008, have been at historic lows, which tends to drive asset prices up. There has been “phenomenal growth” in the ethanol market, Zhang says, linked to increasing interest in sustainable fuels. Indeed, if you graph ethanol production over the past 20 years, it shows exactly the same explosive growth as land prices. And as exports to China and elsewhere have increased, farm income has risen. “Farm income is the variable to track” in analyzing land prices, Zhang explains.
“Some act as landlords by buying land and leasing it out. Others buy plots of low-value land, such as pastures, and upgrade them to higher-yielding orchards.”
But there’s an additional factor: well-heeled investors are snapping up farmland, driving prices up. Here’s how the Economist explained it: “Institutional investors such as pension funds see farmland as fertile ground to plough, either doing their own deals or farming them out to specialist funds. Some act as landlords by buying land and leasing it out. Others buy plots of low-value land, such as pastures, and upgrade them to higher-yielding orchards.”
And, says Craig Dobbins, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, “Farmland and other real estate investments are good investments to balance the risk of investments in stocks and bonds. These buyers are sensitive to the expected rate of return that will be received from the purchase of such an investment. If farmland values rise to levels that it does not appear the investment will provide the threshold rate of return, they will not purchase. The location preferences of these buyers are much more flexible than an individual farmer.”
Institutional investors can and do buy land in every region and of every type: cropland in the Corn Belt, rangeland in cattle country, or fruits and nuts in California. Among the big players are TIAA-Cref, BlackDirt, Hancock Agricultural Investment Group, American Farmland Company, AgIS Capital, and Gladstone Land Corporation. There are other institutional investors as well, showing a cross-section of financial interests in the relatively stable investment that land represents over time. According to RD Schrader, a real estate broker of farmland based in Colorado, “The number of investors is growing, and because of that, it occurs more often and makes the marketplace more fluid. With the downturn in values now, the institutional investors help keep the land values more stable.”
“We have no plan B for this type of eventuality.”
That sounds great if you want to sell land, as many American farmers, approaching retirement age do. But from the viewpoint of sustainability, there are many disadvantages to consolidating farmland in the hands of financially oriented landlords.
Chief among them: The investment entities that own the land can control what’s grown on it and how. A quick look at farmland investment company websites makes it clear that they are very particular about assessing the fertility, the access to water and distribution, and other criteria of the land they are buying. And they favor conventional agriculture—the kind that uses the agro-chemicals, mono-cropping, and extensive tilling that continue to degrade American farmland. For financial investors, commodity crops are king, and it’s hard to imagine that they will change their minds anytime soon. As Don Buckloh of the American Farmland Trust put it, “When it comes to crop diversification it is nearly impossible to shift a commodity operation to something less monolithic. For example, the infrastructure for dealing with products other than corn or soy in Iowa, simply doesn’t exist. So farmers are stuck with having to grow the same crops ad infinitum. It’s a scary proposition because should the ethanol program be dissolved, what will corn farmers do with all that extra corn? Already the prices are so low that farm incomes are projected to be half what they were six or seven years ago. We have no plan B for this type of eventuality.”
Access to secure, affordable land is the biggest challenge young farmers and ranchers face in this country.
Could investment companies become a force for a more ecological approach to agriculture? In theory, yes. BlackDirt Capital, a Connecticut-based firm that specializes in property in the northeastern part of the country, claims to be wholly based on agroecological principles. But that approach is rare and likely to remain so.
In practice, our best hope of true stewardship of the land will come from enlightened, committed owner-farmers. But the trend toward treating farmland as a financial investment, and the high prices that have come with it, make it harder and harder for new young farmers to enter the field. Lindsey Schute, Director of the National Young Farmers Coalition points out, “Access to secure, affordable land is the biggest challenge young farmers and ranchers face in this country. With two-thirds of our nation’s farmland set to change hands in the next few decades, we cannot afford to see the price of farmland driven up beyond what a working farmer can compete with.”
In these examples, ownership of the land becomes corporate, but it remains in U.S. hands. In another variant of land investing that’s become increasingly significant over the past few years, ownership—and control over the land and the food it produces—goes overseas.
We’re all familiar with the concept—though going the other way, with multinational corporations from the United States, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Egypt, China, or some other developed nation buying from sellers in developing nations. Investment in farmland is a key strategy for governments anxious to stabilize their food supply and their food prices. By buying land in other countries and farming it, foreign buyers are able to support their domestic food supply and other markets that depend on agriculture without having to compete for essential products on the global market. Foreign investors will buy several hundred thousand acres, say in Africa, to produce palm oil, rubber, or a biofuel. The deals are typically accompanied by promises of jobs, infrastructure, resource development, or just a jolt for the national economy, but all too often, those promises come to nothing. The local population reaps no benefit, they lose their farming rights, access to water, even their homes. Quite often, civil unrest will ensue. Ethiopia at this very moment provides a prime example of this phenomenon.
China now controls more than 400 American farms.
The new target for farmland investment: The United States. Themost recent figures from USDA, dating from 2011, show that roughly 25 million acres, about 2 percent of our national total of 930,000,000 acres, are in foreign hands. And the pace of investment seems to be picking up. In the period since USDA’s 2011 report, foreign investors have gone on shopping sprees in the heartland and beyond. Saudi Arabia and the UAE alone have acquired more than 15,000 acres in Arizona and Southern California to grow fodder for dairy cattle. Italian buyers are reported to have purchased 102,000 acres in Missouri, and New Zealand some 18,000.
The most memorable deal—though most coverage treated it as a corporate acquisition rather than a resource grab—was the 2013 acquisition of America’s largest producer of pork, the Smithfield Company, by a Chinese company called Shuanghui—which subsequently changed its name to the WH Group. The company is an independent entity, but it has received substantial funding from the Chinese government. It’s probably not overstating much to say that the government of China now controls more than 400 American farms consisting of a hundred thousand acres of farmland, with at least 50,000 in Missouri alone, plus CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations), 33 processing plants, the distribution system—and one out of every four American hogs.
Smithfield is a “vertically integrated” company, meaning that it owns everything right down to the feed supply and all the way up the food chain to the many brands of processed and packaged foods distributed throughout the United States and the world. However, one could make the argument that the most important assets within this $4.72 billion sale are the farmland and the water.
States like Iowa have banned the sale of farmland to foreign buyers and others have laws that limit the number of acres that can legally be sold, but it can be quite tricky to tell who is doing the buying.
One thing that is clear is the lack of a universal national policy governing water rights and water use. In states that are water insecure in the Southwest, there is a dizzying and arcane array of regulations that are barely equal now to the challenges of current domestic use, much less answering the needs of foreign agriculture. It seems the barest common sense that there should be some federal entity protecting citizens’ rights to water against anonymous industrial agribusiness. As yet that has not happened. And while California and the Southwest would seem the most obvious areas that will face serious water challenges in the future, we have already seen similar drought conditions playing out in other states, such as Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Eventually we may find that dry states must be supplied in some measure by wet states. Logic would dictate that laws regarding water use and access should be firmly in place before selling off resources to another nation.
States like Iowa have banned the sale of farmland to foreign buyers and others have laws that limit the number of acres that can legally be sold, but it can be quite tricky to tell who is doing the buying. Foreign buyers can hide their identity by creating an American corporation, or buying through a U.S. majority-owned subsidiary.
So just how much of our farmland are we willing to sell? And who decides? Most proposed deals must go through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Established under the Ford Administration in 1975, it has broad powers to accept or deny requests for foreign acquisitions of American companies and land. After September 11, additional criteria were included under the jurisdiction of the CFIUS, including food, water, and agriculture. The committee is made up of representatives from 16 government agencies, and chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury. It includes members from the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, the State Department, and the Departments of Commerce, Energy, and Justice, as well as the offices of the U.S. Trade Representative and Science and Technology Policy. Its reviews and deliberations are closed to the public, and decisions are handed down with virtually no transparency.
The dangers of high land prices are obvious—especially for younger farmers who are trying to get established and farmers who want to steer away from Big Ag approaches. The dangers of ownership by large corporations and foreign buyers are equally clear. But there is another danger to high, rapidly rising land prices—one that brings to mind the great real estate bust of 2007: a bubble. Bubbles can be devastating, leaving small landowners underwater on their mortgages and depriving them of the crucial collateral they need to get loans on operating expenses.
“I don’t think it’s a bubble.”
Could the current rise in farm prices be a bubble? Certainly, if you read some headlines in Midwestern newspapers, you might get the impression not only that there’s a bubble but that it is in the process of bursting. Though farmland prices are still high, they peaked somewhere around 2013 and have fallen for three years in a row—the first time that’s happened.
“I don’t think it’s a bubble,” says Zhang. “In a bubble, you’ll see dissociation between prices and the value of the underlying assets. This time, when crop prices went down—with corn dropping from six or seven dollars a bushel in 2013 to about half that price today—the land prices dropped with them. And farmers still have some money.”
Don’t get too optimistic—or too pessimistic—just yet, though. Interest rates are creeping up. Farm income, the key factor in determining land prices, has been falling for the past three years from record highs, and USDA is predicting a fourth year of decline. On the other hand, operating costs seem to be going down. And prices in Iowa seem to have ticked up slightly, though that may be just because farmers are holding on to their property, waiting for better prices to return; farmland for sale is in short supply in Iowa. (These insights come courtesy of Professor Zhang. For much, much more, visit the invaluable Iowa Land Portal.)
Zhang himself takes a temperate view: “Despite the deteriorating agricultural financial conditions and continued decline in farm income, the current farm downturn is more likely a liquidity and working capital problem, as opposed to a solvency and balance sheet problem for the entire agricultural sector,” he writes .”Rather than an abrupt farm crisis, we are likely to [see] a gradual, drawn-out downward adjustment to the historical normal return levels for the agricultural economy. The U.S. farmland market [is] likely headed towards stabilization and potentially slightly more modest downward adjustments before bouncing back in the near future.”
If it pans out that way, Zhang’s prediction is probably good news for the economy. Is it good news for a sustainable approach to agriculture rooted in small, independent farms, enlightened farming practices, and short supply chains? That’s less obvious. At the very least, it’s going to require the progressive wing of farming to rethink its economics and its go-to-market strategies and possibly make big changes.
But that is a story for another day.
Katy Keiffer has been in the food industry for over 30 years as a cook, butcher, publicist, and food writer. She is the author of What's The Matter With Meat?, an expose of the meat industry, and is the host and producer of the weekly podcast “What Doesn't Kill You: Food Industry Insights” on HeritageRadioNetwork.org.
Corso’s Issues Statement, AmericanHort’s Craig Regelbrugge Discusses Industry Ramifications In Aftermath of ICE Raid
Corso’s Issues Statement, AmericanHort’s Craig Regelbrugge Discusses Industry Ramifications In Aftermath of ICE Raid
Corso’s says it “demands proper documentation” from workers following the raid that resulted in 114 of the company’s employees being arrested. AmericanHort is working to provide resources for green industry businesses to navigate the issue.
June 12, 2018
Conner Howard and Michelle Simakis
Corso’s Flower & Garden Center says it is “fully cooperating with the government’s investigation” after law enforcement officers raided its facilities in Northwest Ohio and arrested more than 100 employees suspected of working in the U.S. illegally June 5.
Corso’s, a family-owned business that also includes wholesale perennial production, growing more than 2 million perennials supplied to seven states, and a landscaping division, was the target of an operation by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and cooperating agencies. According to several news outlets, the raid involved about 200 agents and led to the arrest of 114 Corso’s employees at its Sandusky and Castalia, Ohio, facilities.
According to the Associated Press, the ICE agents were targeting specific individuals suspected of tax evasion and identity theft stemming from an October audit of the company that found 123 suspicious documents out of the 313 employee records reviewed.
According to a May news release from ICE, “a notice of inspection alerts business owners that ICE is going to audit their hiring records to determine whether they are complying with existing law. Employers are required to produce their company’s I-9s within three business days, after which ICE will conduct an inspection for compliance. If employers are not in compliance with the law, an I-9 inspection of their business will likely result in civil fines and could lay the groundwork for criminal prosecution if they are knowingly violating the law. All workers encountered during these investigations who are unauthorized to remain in the United States are subject to administrative arrest and removal from the country.”
Corso’s statement, which was shared on the garden center retailer and landscaper’s Facebook page, indicated that the company was not aware that some of its employees may be in the country illegally. According to The Washington Post, ICE is investigating Corso’s and “the role the employer played in hiring undocumented immigrants,” but has not yet filed any formal charges against the company.
“Just as Corso’s has strived over the past 77 years to be honest and fair in its dealings with its employees, Corso’s expects its employees to be honest with it as well,” Corso’s statement read. “Corso’s strives to comply with U.S. employment laws and therefore asks its employees and prospective employees for honest and legitimate identification and documentation. If mistakes were made or if anyone used false, fraudulent, or otherwise disingenuous identification documents or other documents to secure employment at Corso’s, the company was not aware of those things. Corso’s looks forward to the resolution of this unfortunate situation and in the interim will continue to focus efforts on serving customers as the investigation proceeds.”
Corso’s added that it regretted the “stress and pain” the arrests caused to families and that the company was “troubled” by some reports of alleged “poor treatment of our employees during the arrest process, including an apparent lack of information provided by federal authorities to family members of those arrested. It is our hope that federal authorities will work diligently to ensure minimal disruption to families of our employees as they execute their orders.”
According to a Facebook post from HOLA, a Latino advocacy organization based in Northeast Ohio, more than 200 children in Northwest Ohio have one or both parents who are in detention; the Corso’s employees were taken to facilities in Youngstown and Seneca County, Ohio, and St. Clair County, Mich.
“This is a major humanitarian crisis unfolding, as many of the workers have spouses and children,” HOLA’s Executive Director Veronica Dahlberg wrote in a news release. “In some cases, both sets of parents were seized, and we know of many children left with babysitters, including babies and toddlers.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in an email that his office is assisting children affected by the raid.
“My first concern is for the children who were separated from their families by the raid, and my office is looking into what we can do to help the children,” Sen. Brown said. “Tearing families apart is not going to fix our broken immigration system. Instead, we need a bipartisan solution that recognizes we aren’t going to deport 13 million people here already, but we can secure our borders and create a pathway for people to earn citizenship if they follow the law, have a job and pay taxes.”
ICE ramps up enforcement
The impact of immigration on the horticultural workforce has been a common topic of discussion among experts, and Craig Regelbrugge, senior vice president of industry advocacy & research at AmericanHort, told the GIE Media Horticulture Group that the raid on Corso’s is only the most recent example of a wider crackdown on undocumented labor and that AmericanHort is striving to provide knowledge and resources necessary for green industry businesses to navigate the issue.
“This is just the latest [incident],” Regelbrugge says. “We've seen this before and it underscores the absolute importance of better tools and solutions for the industry to ensure access to a legal and sufficiently stable labor supply. I'm fearful that we're going to see a lot more of this.”
Regelbrugge believes it’s a rare situation in which an employer will knowingly take such a legal risk of hiring undocumented workers, and that more often than not, these employers are being duped by falsified documents. In its statement, Corso’s says it does “demand proper documentation from all those seeking employment at its facilities and also ensures that all employer taxes are properly paid.”
“Foreign-born labor has been critically important in our industry and in agriculture for decades. The vast majority of employers, when they're hiring, they're following the letter of the law,” Regelbrugge says. “It just so happens that a lot of the people who are applying have documents that appear genuine but won't stand up to the forensic scrutiny that gets applied when these audits are done.”
According to a news release issued by ICE May 14, the agency has more than doubled its worksite enforcement investigations and I-9 audits in the past seven months.
“From Oct. 1, 2017, through May 4, [Homeland Security Investigations] opened 3,510 worksite investigations; initiated 2,282 I-9 audits; and made 594 criminal and 610 administrative worksite-related arrests, respectively,” according to the release. “In comparison, for fiscal year 2017 – running October 2016 to September 2017 – HSI opened 1,716 worksite investigations; initiated 1,360 I-9 audits; and made 139 criminal arrests and 172 administrative arrests related to worksite enforcement.
"These laws help protect jobs for U.S. citizens and others who are lawfully employed, eliminate unfair competitive advantages for companies that hire an illegal workforce, and strengthen public safety and national security."
ALSO READ: For more information on how to prepare for I-9 audits and ensure your documents are accurate, read the March 2018 cover story in Nursery Management magazine.
In addition, ICE arrests overall increased by 30 percent in 2017 when compared to 2016, with a total of 143,470 arrests, according to the Fiscal Year 2017 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Report. The raid on Corso’s represents one of the largest in the recent past, according to The Washington Post.
Regelbrugge says that the immigration and labor issues require a nuanced approach both in terms of legislation and industry adaptation.
"There will be people calling for the industry to sort of take a look in the mirror and go through some self-analysis and figure out how to get the work done with less labor and how to potentially succeed at attracting more American workers into the industry," Regelbrugge says. "But, all those things aside, we're a full employment economy. The official government agencies that track the statistics on this sort of stuff are now telling us that there are more open jobs than there are people in the labor pool seeking to fill them."
Visa systems aren’t sufficient
With demand for labor being as high as it is in the horticulture industry, Regelbrugge says the current systems in place to grant working visas to documented immigrants aren't up to the task.
"There's an agricultural visa program, H-2A. We have a lot of folks in our industry who are attempting to use H-2A to supplement their labor. We have a lot of folks in the landscape sector who are looking to the H-2B program and the H-2B program is totally over-subscribed," Regelbrugge says. "The cap (which is 66,000) was hit in record time this year. Homeland Security just made available an additional 15,000 visas -- that represents roughly one quarter of what's actually needed. In a matter of just a few days, more applications have been received for that limited number of visas than there are visas. We really, ultimately, do need legislation that improves the available visas programs and increases the bandwidth of those programs."
AmericanHort is working to influence legislation to allow greenhouse, nursery, landscaping and retail operations better access to employees who are documented and working here legally.
“It's obviously a very difficult challenge, and we work in coalition with a lot of other industry groups and others who have overlapping interests in seeing our immigration system modernized,” Regelbrugge says. “We may actually see a vote or votes in the house of representatives in the next couple of weeks on some immigration-related provisions. It could be as few as one, it could be as many as three or four different bills, depending on how the process unfolds."
There are efforts to improve some parts of immigration policy, including modernizing the H-2A program, Regelbrugge says, but the process is slow due to limitations of the administration and the congressional legislative process.
“In the short term, administrative improvements could be made that might reduce costs and improve efficiencies for employers,” he says. “So, we're very much supporting that effort as well -- that's been taking shape for about the last year.”
Policy, law and labor issues aside, Regelbrugge also laments the human tragedy inherent in ICE raids such as the one targeting Corso’s Flower & Garden Center.
“We can talk about labor as an input, like water or fertilizer, something you need to be able to produce, distribute, sell and install plants. But the rest of the story is that these folks are as human as we are, and they are, by and large, like family in these operations,” he says. “Not only does the employer find themselves reeling just from a business survival standpoint, but it's like members of their family being ripped away and carted off in handcuffs. It's just brutal. This tears at the fabric of communities, you end up with families being separated, you end up with kids whose parents don't pick them up from daycare and they end up in foster homes."
Patrick Williams and Chris Manning contributed to this article. ICE did not immediately respond to requests for information. Photo courtesy of ICE.
Embracing ‘Citified’ Agriculture Means Rethinking Land Use Priorities, Says U of A Researcher
May 18, 2018
Embracing ‘Citified’ Agriculture Means Rethinking Land Use Priorities, Says U of A Researcher
Although beneficial, urban agriculture only scratches the surface of how cities need to be rethought.
Michael Granzow says projects like community gardens in cities are beneficial, but they need to be part of longer-term planning that also looks at issues like land use, housing and income inequality. (Photo: Supplied)
By BEV BETKOWSKI
Community gardens, the feel-good darlings of the growing season, are great for raising awareness about sustainability—but they’re just scratching the surface of a much larger harvest, according to a University of Alberta researcher.
They and other ag-based initiatives bring a bounty of benefits to cities by drawing people together, creating common spaces, boosting biodiversity, adding to local food production and in some cases, like the U of A’s Green and Gold Garden, raising money for good causes. But while those benefits should be celebrated, there are bigger-picture questions to consider, said Michael Granzow, who is studying the issue for a Ph.D. in sociology through the Faculty of Arts.
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“To deal with problems like food insecurity and address underlying issues, we need to also consider factors like income inequality and availability of affordable housing,” he said.
Although projects like community gardens and vertical farming—where produce is grown stacked in layers—are great, we have to be careful not to overstate their ability to feed cities, he believes.
“We need to ask some hard questions about land use and to question the development priorities that continue to shape Edmonton and many other North American cities". Michael Granzow
The idea of citified agriculture is still budding for many cities in Canada, but Edmonton, Granzow noted, was one of the first to include food as an urban question, first in its 2008 municipal development plan and then in 2012 by launching fresh, a food and urban agriculture strategy that included creating a food council. And though that’s a good start, concrete policies are still lacking, he believes.
“The city has moved in the right direction. Fresh is an ambitious policy, but some of the language is vague and it includes few hard targets. There’s still uncertainty about what urban agriculture will look like in the city 20 or 30 years from now,” he said.
Ultimately, cities like Edmonton need to address political questions about food access and the environment, he said.
“It’s important we think about how urban agriculture projects are working in a larger context and how they’re actually addressing social, environmental and food-related concerns, as opposed to how we assume they’re doing this.
“There’s a need to specifically define what urban agriculture is and how it might differ from one urban context to another.”
That means governments need to decide whether and how they’ll make room for related issues like entrepreneurial food ventures and how that will be reflected in land-use policy, Granzow said.
“It’s easy to support the idea of using vacant lots for community gardens, but that ultimately is a temporary use until the lot is developed. We also need to think about these projects on a long-term basis.”
Adding to that theory is a recent U of A report revealing that prime farmland surrounding Edmonton is being eaten up for residential and industrial use instead of being preserved for crops, Granzow noted. “Beyond focusing on backyard bees and hens, policy around urban agriculture has to consider ways to slow urban sprawl.”
Though he’s still developing his findings, it’s clear that some difficult decisions come with embracing large-scale urban agriculture.
“If we’re going to think about it as part of a response to environmental concerns or food insecurity, it’s going to require some major changes. We need to ask some hard questions about land use, and to question the development priorities that continue to shape Edmonton and many other North American cities.”
It’s an exciting opportunity, he added. “It raises awareness about the importance of local food and helps us rethink our reliance on a food system dependent on an unsustainable model of industrialized agriculture.”
Meanwhile, city-driven projects, including vacant lots for gardens, beekeeping and backyard hens, along with other community gardens such as the U of A-based Prairie Urban Farm, where Granzow volunteers and serves as an adviser, are important to what is a much larger movement in reimagining what a city is and what it could be, he believes.
“They all contribute to challenging a sanitized view of the city as separate from processes of food production.”
Citified agriculture also brings a whole new urban planning element to the table, Granzow noted.
“It’s a new way to think about the idea of the city and its relationship to the environment. You start to see the city differently through this lens and ask new kinds of questions. What can we grow here? Is there enough sunlight? Where’s the best soil? How can we capture and distribute water?
“Urban agriculture isn’t going to be the answer to all of our problems, but it’s a space of hope—a small but crucial part of a larger move towards ecologically and socially inspired models of urbanism.”
3,000-Year-Old Olive Tree On The Island of Crete Still Produces Olives Today
On the island of Crete, in the village of Vouves, stands an olive tree estimated to be 3,000 years old. Hearty and resilient, "the Olive Tree of Vouves" still bears fruit today. Because, yes, olives are apparently considered a fruit.
in Life, Nature | May 9th, 2018
in Life, Nature | May 9th, 2018
On the island of Crete, in the village of Vouves, stands an olive tree estimated to be 3,000 years old. Hearty and resilient, "the Olive Tree of Vouves" still bears fruit today. Because, yes, olives are apparently considered a fruit.
Archaeologist Ticia Verveer posted a picture of the tree on Twitter earlier this week and noted: It "stood here when Rome burned in AD64, and Pompeii was buried under a thick carpet of volcanic ash in AD79." That all happened during the tree's infancy alone.
An estimated 20,000 people now visit the tree each year. If you can't swing a trip to Crete, you can take a virtual tour of the Olive Tree Museum of Vouves (it requires Flash) and see this 3D model of the tree.
Across the Mediterranean, you'll find six other olive trees believed to be 2,000-3,000 years old--some of our last living ties to an ancient world. And beautiful ones at that.
via @ticiaverveer
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Why The Biochar Industry Is Expected To Gain Popularity Across The Globe Between 2012-2025?
Sustainable Agriculture - Rima d'souza - Senior Research Associate
Why The Biochar Industry Is Expected To Gain Popularity Across The Globe Between 2012-2025?
1. Biochar is an emerging industry and the product is at its nascent stage. The product is expected to be a key factor for increasing agricultural productivity and crop yield in the near future. Its ability to enhance soil fertility and plant growth is expected to be a key factor on account of growing global population and rising demand for organic food.
2. Agriculture was the largest product category in 2017 and is expected to grow substantially over the forecast period. Farming was the major application segment in agriculture with a share of over 51.8% in 2017.
3. The global biochar market is expected to reach USD 3,146.1 million by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc.
4. Application in agriculture segment is expected to observe the fastest growth over the next nine years with an estimated CAGR of around 12.5% from 2018 to 2025. Biochar is primarily used in agriculture to enhance soil fertility, improve plant growth, and provide crop nutrition.
5. As a result, it improves the overall productivity. It has also gained considerable popularity in livestock farming as an animal feed. The livestock sector is extremely crucial for biochar, especially in regions such as North America and Europe where meat is important for human consumption.
6. Global demand in pyrolysis was USD 737 million in 2017 and is anticipated to witness staggered growth over the next nine years
7. Key players including VerdiLife, Diacarbon Energy Inc, Vega Biofuels Inc., and Agri-Tech Producers, LLC have invested heavily in gasification technology and are expected to expand their production facilities over the forecast period.
VerdiLife
Thrive Agritech Secures $2 Million Capital Injection
The latest investment round, led by New York-based Rose Capital, accelerates the LED lighting company's unique lighting technology into the global horticulture market.
May 22, 2018
Thrive Agritech, Inc., a technology company focused on leading innovations in LED horticulture lighting, has announced that it has received an additional $2 million in equity capital to accelerate the development and deployment of its LED technology in controlled environment agriculture. The investment round was led by Rose Capital, a New York-based institutional investor. In conjunction with the investment round, Rose Capital has also joined Thrive’s Board of Directors.
The financing round–and new partnership with Rose Capital–follows an exceptional year for Thrive Agritech, which saw a rapidly expanding customer base with lighting installations in greenhouses, vertical farms and cannabis production facilities across North America.
Rose Capital noted, “We are excited about this investment based on the extraordinary customer adoption that Thrive has experienced since its first product launch in 2015. Thrive has established a successful track record of commercializing best-in-class LED lighting products–having launched a new product every year since the company’s inception. We look forward to partnering with Thrive to continue to break down traditional industry barriers and commercialize some of the most innovative products in the global horticultural market.”
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that food production must increase by 70 percent over the next forty years to satisfy increasing demand. The total market in North America for LED lighting solutions for greenhouses is expected to grow from 2.5 million square feet in 2015 to more than 50 million square feet in 2021. In response to these trends, companies like Thrive are introducing high output lighting solutions to change the efficiency dynamic for global growers.
“Our biggest challenge today is responding to the overwhelming number of opportunities with which we are being confronted,” said Thrive Agritech CEO Brian Bennett. “As we close this investment round, we will be aggressively hiring sales, marketing and operations support and leveraging Rose Capital’s expertise, to exceed the expectations of our customers and further develop our product portfolio and core technologies. Additionally, we will be expanding operations into Europe to capture growth in the emerging greenhouse supplemental lighting market.”
Thrive Agritech was founded at the Y Combinator accelerator in Silicon Valley, with a mission to enhance sustainability for controlled environment agriculture. The company’s industry-leading energy efficient lighting products have already made significant reductions in the carbon footprint from older lighting technologies. Further, all Thrive Agritech products have an optimized horticulture light spectrum, high reliability, and most importantly improve efficiency and longevity of horticultural crop growth.
Agrivest 2018: ‘It’s Unbelievable We Still Measure Agricultural Productivity by Land, Not Water Use’
Agrivest 2018: ‘It’s Unbelievable We Still Measure Agricultural Productivity by Land, Not Water Use’
It is “unbelievable” in the 21st century we still measure agricultural productivity by land use and not water use, Professor Louise O. Fresco, the president of Wageningen University & Research in The Netherlands, told delegates at AgriVest 2018 conference in Tel Aviv last week.
In her speech, entitled Transition to a sustainable agri-food system, the former Assistant Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) argued that climate change presents the biggest challenge to the agriculture industry.
Even though the global population is better fed compared to the past, that does not guarantee food security for the future. To cope with future demands, people need to ramp up production, but it cannot be done by disregarding our planet’s finite resources. The answers lie in managing the food chain with technology – specifically precision tech that allows us to manage the negative effects of production, such as use of too much fertilizer, too much pesticide, and too much water, she argued.
We also need to be creative about new food sources by looking at lower species in the aquatic food chain as a viable and balanced way of providing protein to the population, she added.
Policy and government initiatives are critical to transition the planet to a sustainable agrifood system. Encouraging the younger generation to farm is one-way governments globally can get involved; providing access to farmland without the need for inheritance, Fresco exampled. Encouraging the younger generation to study agriculture at school and agriculture could also promote the use of smarter farming methods globally. If a greater number of young people understand and work in agriculture, the use of more high-tech tools from other industries is much more likely, she added.
Fresco also encouraged the creation of a circular economy across various parts of the industry. For example, biomass presents a wealth of minerals, proteins, and other elements that can be used again and again. The use and reuse of biomass (not for fuel) is just one important change we need to make.
We caught up with Fresco after her talk:
What are the first three steps in policy changes you suggest for the agrifood sector?
The first is regulating genomics and reassessing or removing GMO regulation, as these really stifle the sector.
The second is using waste cyclically – leveraging technology to create a circular economy.
The third is removing trade barriers as these are negative for agriculture and innovation.
What are the most important trends in the last decade that can affect trends in the coming 10 years?
The speed of technological changes and the price. Technology also breaks disciplinary boundaries. There is a great need for open-minded people.
What’s interesting about the agrifood tech ecosystem in Israel?
The fact that it’s relatively small, as in closely knit, so this creates a sense of community. There are lots of personal connections, and it’s very easy to be in contact. In this way, it is reminiscent of The Netherlands, which is a bit bigger than Israel, but not by much. As well, the younger generation that has come out of the army with leadership skills is a great asset, and there is an amazing sense of creativity.
Both Fresco and Nitza Kardish, CEO of Trendlines, the incubator group, stressed diversity and the interdisciplinary nature of today’s agriculture as critical to making changes in the agritech food chain.
Fresco echoed Oded Distel, founder and director of Israel NewTech by invoking the Hebrew tikkun olam, a concept of repairing or perfecting the world, as being at the heart of agriculture and food.
Agrivest 2018 is an initiative of Trendlines, GreenSoil Investments, and Israel NewTech and the fifth edition of the event.
Read more about AgriVest 2018 here.
About the authors: Shira Zimmerman and Karen Kozek work in Investor & Marketing Communications at Trendlines.
Image credit: Yanai Rubaja
MotorLeaf: The Farming AI Which Helps Boost Modern Indoor Farms
MotorLeaf: The Farming AI Which Helps Boost Modern Indoor Farms
from RESET
Published on 23 May 2018
MotorLeaf introduces a green-fingered AI which can help indoor farms match the growing food demands of the future.
The Agronomist AI uses a range of wirelessly connected devices to monitor crops.
The recent expansion of agricultural tech, combined with emerging food security concerns, has led to the development of modern agricultural practices which seem a million miles away from the rolling green fields and romanticised ideas of farming yore.
For example, we recently reported on AeroFarms, a US-based company exploring the concept of urban vertical farming, while elsewhere, technological greenhouses can utilize new systems to greatly reduce water consumption without compromising on yield. Indeed, in many cases, the yield is drastically increased.
MotorLeaf is the latest company to find a role in this new market. The artificial intelligence developer has created a new AI which can help urban and indoor growers to monitor their crops, and predict issues in real time.
Their Agronomist AI uses data-driven machine-based learning to provide indoor farms with a comprehensive suite of insights, whether relating to potential yield or even predicting disease. Put all together, this data can help reduce waste and crop failure - something which will only become more important as more stress is put on the agricultural sector by population growth and climate change induced weather patterns.
Many of Agronomist’s services can be used individually or combined together with the MotorLeaf HEART system to operate as a larger AI manager of an indoor farm or greenhouse. Every four seconds, MotorLeaf’s AI collects data from a collection of wirelessly connected devices which can provide information on factors such as light spectrum, light intensity, CO2, humidity, air temperature, water usage and chemical makeup.
Recent trials conducted in California led to a fifty percent reduction in yield prediction errors of tomatoes, and with recently secured funding, they are seeking to expand the product to different crops and scales.
Can AI Be Environmental?
Currently, the system is mostly being used in hi-tech, comparatively low-yield indoor farms in developed nations - and is it likely to remain that way for some time. Furthermore, the current goal of MotorLeaf appears to be making these ventures more profitable and cost-effective, and less concerned with environmental protection - although the two are not mutually exclusive.
Despite this, technology such as the Agromost.ai or similar could also have major implications for farms and greenhouses in developing nations. Although the current expense and technical know-how required to operate such software may be beyond most farmers in the Global South, the ability to predict disaster and better monitor the conditions of your crops could become an invaluable tool in the fight against famines, crop failure, and poor weather conditions.
If AI is to become a tool of future, it should also be used broadly to help those most in need of its utility. AI that remains the sole possession of developed nations is likely only to exacerbate inequalities and economic gulfs between states. However, as AI becomes more widespread, and the tech it relies on cheaper and more available, it could be an important player in supporting an agricultural sector that can feed the entire world. Additionally, much else remains to be debated about AI from a social standpoint, including its potential impact on employment, not only in manufacturing but in a range of sectors and roles.
Indigo Ag CEO To Headline Next Month's AgTech Nexus USA In Boston
The fourth annual AgTech Nexus USA (formerly called GAI AgTech Week) here at the Harvard Club, June 6-7, will feature David Perry, CEO and president of agtech start-up Indigo Ag, the top funded agtech start-up of all time, as the keynote speaker.
Indigo Ag CEO To Headline Next Month's AgTech Nexus USA In Boston
NEWS PROVIDED BY Global AgInvesting
May 21, 2018
BOSTON, May 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The fourth annual AgTech Nexus USA (formerly called GAI AgTech Week) here at the Harvard Club, June 6-7, will feature David Perry, CEO and president of agtech start-up Indigo Ag, the top funded agtech start-up of all time, as the keynote speaker.
Boston-based Indigo Ag last year earned the title of Boston's newest "unicorn" when a $156 million Series D funding round bumped the company, established in 2014, to a value of $1.4 billion. Venture capitalists and even public pension funds have been eager to invest in the privately-held business with the hopes that it will perfect its mission to treat seeds with naturally occurring microbes to make crops more tolerant of stressful conditions. Indigo, which also offers software to help farmers improve profitability, has sequenced the genome of more than 40,000 microbes that can help ward off disease, be more resistant to drought, and better utilize nutrients.
Perry will participate in an interview-style presentation, moderated by Greg Duerksen, president of agribusiness executive search firm Kincannon & Reed, on the opening morning of the event. He will speak to an audience that includes the latest innovators and investors in the burgeoning sector about Five Forces That Will Shape Agriculture, highlighting the opportunities in the sector, and the need for increased investment to support more R&D and entrepreneurs with the disruptive technologies that will help sustainably feed the world's growing population.
Other featured speakers to take the AgTech Nexus stage include Jack Bobo, chief communications officer at Intrexon Corporation, a synthetic biology company that develops revolutionary solutions to the world's most pressing problems in food, energy, and health; and Isha Datar, executive director of New Harvest, a not-for-profit organization that focuses on accelerating cellular agriculture with the vision of building a post-animal bioeconomy where animal products are harvested from cell cultures grown in labs.
Bobo, who has delivered more than 300 presentations on the future of food and the role of science and technology in feeding the world, was named in 2015 by Scientific American as one of the 100 most influential people in biotechnology today. He will speak at AgTech Nexus on Fads, Trends and Values – What Drives Consumer Food Preferences and Why It Matters, which will focus on the greater transparency that consumers are demanding in the foods they buy and in the supply chains that bring that food to their table. He also will cover how food companies' response to this sea change will determine their financial future as well as the health of the public and the planet.
Datar has worked to advance cellular agriculture research since 2009, including funding early stage, foundational research in academia in order for ready-to-market technologies to be developed for commercial use. She co-founded two disruptive food technology start-ups in 2014: Muufri, which makes milk without cows, and Clara Foods, which offers the world's first animal-free egg white. At the event, she will present Cellular Agriculture: A Future Food Solution?
Other key speakers at the event hail from AeroFarms, Anterra Capital, BrightFarms, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Cargill, Conservis, Data Collective (DCVC), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Sustainable Insight Capital Management, TechAccel and more. See the full agenda for details.
AgTech Nexus USA, a brand of Global AgInvesting, is a two-day conference where attendees are immersed in the innovations and investment opportunities surrounding this compelling, nascent sector where in just the indoor farming section alone, is predicted to have a CAGR of 30.7 percent between 2015 and 2020, reaching the value of US$3.88 billionby 2020.
Learn more at www.agtechnexus.com or follow us @agtechnexus.
Global AgInvesting, a brand of HighQuest Group, is the world's most well-attended agriculture investment conference series and leading resource for events, research, and insight into the global agricultural sector. GAI has hosted more than 9,000 attendees since 2009, and currently produces five annual events in New York, Boston, Tokyo, London & Dublin. www.globalaginvesting.com
CONTACT: Michelle Pelletier-Marshall
mmarshall@globalaginvesting.com
+1.978.887.8800, x117
SOURCE Global AgInvesting
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The Journey To Fully Traceable Crops
Mikhail Hutton Helping farmers with their security, compliance, and scale at @Agrilyst.
May 9, 2018
The Journey To Fully Traceable Crops
The current E.coli outbreak has hospitalized dozens of people and caused one death so far. It is still unknown which farm or processor led to the outbreak. We believe this is unacceptable and solvable, and so today we’re releasing a new feature: Digital Compliance.
There are three big challenges with food safety compliance today: it is expensive and time intensive to document, the regulations apply primarily to packing and shipping not growing, and the regulations are relatively vague.
Let’s talk about documentation. This all starts with a Food Safety Plan which outlines standard operating procedures. Typically this includes things like: traceability procedures, employee training, visitor procedures, hygiene requirements, and water testing procedures.
For anything outlined in the Food Safety Plan, you are required to maintain logs. For example, in order to meet the requirement of training employees on food safety, you’ll need to not only provide the training material but also a log of when each employee receives the training.
Sample training log from the Produce Safety Alliance
This is cumbersome. And expensive. The FDA estimates it will cost small growers between $6,000 and $25,000 annually in record-keeping costs alone.
For the larger multi-acre greenhouses who work with us it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in both man hours and crops. It’s not uncommon for us to see some of the larger facilities hire a full-time person or team just to focus on compliance.
And although food safety compliance used to be optional by buyer demand (a buyer could demand third party audits), it is now mandatory for any grower selling more than $25,000 each year (under FSMA). So this isn’t just something we’re thinking about, it’s something every grower needs to pay attention to.
And as I mentioned earlier, the requirements typically apply to post-harvest processes. There are little tracking requirements for the crop while it’s growing. Hence why we’re having trouble tracking down the farm where the current E.coli outbreak started.
At Agrilyst, we want to change this. We believe in full traceability from seed to stomach and are making that process as easy and cost-effective for the grower as possible.
So how do we do that?
Documentation
We wanted to make it easier for people to store documents like their Food Safety Plan, Standard Operating Procedures, Training Materials, and Farm Layout right in Agrilyst. Now instead of storing documents in a dusty binder, they’re accessible to everyone in the organization and auditors with the click of a button.
Automating Logs
You are already completing logs in Agrilyst…we just call them tasks. Every time you check off a task in Agrilyst, that task stores data: who completed the task, when was it completed, how did crops perform, were they moved, by whom, were things completed as expected or was a corrective action needed?
Now you can simply search for that information and store the logs along with your other food safety documents. And, you can store crop logs as well. This isn’t required under any food safety protocol, but we believe it’s a critical step in transparency.
Track Crops
Crops in Agrilyst are always assigned a unique ID. You can also assign a barcode to a batch. Both of these make all of your crops searchable and trackable. A critical component of food safety protocol is the ability to track crops one step forward and one step backward. With Agrilyst, you can track what inputs went into a batch and where a batch ultimately went by assigning barcodes and unique IDs.
In the case of an outbreak, once a batch is recalled, a grower can find all similar batches with a quick search and we can mitigate issues like we’re currently having. More about how we do this here.
Not Just For Food Safety
This is about more than just food safety. Our cannabis growers are also required to track crops from seed to sale and Compliance helps growers do just that. Our flower growers think about traceability too. Logging and compliance are two of the biggest components of running a commercial farm and we’re here to make that process easier and more cost-efficient. Think of us as an insurance policy and traceability is the data gateway to higher margins.
Have questions or thoughts? I want to hear from you. You can email me directly at mhutton@agrilyst.com to learn more about our Compliance feature.
To find out if you’ll have to comply with the Produce Safety Rule and see how Agrilyst can help you do that, go to www.agrilyst.com/food-safety.
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The Greenhouse
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Every Essential Nutrient Buffered To The Exact pH
Every Essential Nutrient Buffered To The Exact pH
New liquid fertilizer Gold Leaf
A complete liquid fertilizer that contains every essential plant nutrient has been the ‘holy grail’ of liquid fertilizers for many decades. Many have tried to create such a product, all have failed. That is why the developers of “Gold Leaf” by Plater Bio claim to have reached a major achievement with the launch of Gold Leaf.
Plater Bio, founded in 2016 in Glossop (Derbyshire, UK) and have been developing Gold Leaf for the last two years. Plater Bio founder Dr Russell Sharp says “the aim when creating Gold Leaf was not only to produce a product that contained every essential nutrient, but which was also buffered to the exact pH that plants need for optimal growth and with all the micronutrients in a chelated form in order to keep them available to the plant”.
They have done so now and the immediate, and most obvious use for Gold Leaf is as a hydroponic fertilizer. "Currently hydroponic systems rely on two or three-part products that all need to be kept in separate tanks, blended, dosed, pH controlled, and monitored for electrical conductivity (EC). All these tasks need to be completed before fertilizer can be applied to the crop. In contrast, Gold Leaf is simply mixed with water at the desired rate and is then ready for use."
While Gold Leaf was initially designed for hydroponics, it is now being trialed in other agricultural systems, such as field crops. Plater Bio founder Dr. Russell Sharp adds “we are finding there is a lot of interest in Gold Leaf from conventional farming. This is because, as a complete nutrient solution, Gold Leaf reduces the number of products that need to be applied to a crop, thus saving farmers time, money, and water.”
He continues: "While there are suspension products already available that contain lots of plant nutrients, they contain solid material suspended in liquid. The problem with suspension fertilizers is that the solid part (calcium phosphate and calcium sulfate) are completely insoluble, even when diluted down and left for days. This is not surprising as calcium phosphate is the principal component that makes animal bones! This means the calcium and phosphate are not available to the plant, plus the solid particles can block applicator filters."
"The lack of calcium in conventional compound fertilizers has limited crop yields globally as calcium is essential for many metabolic processes in plants. This has meant crops regularly suffer from physiological disorders caused by calcium deficiency, such as Blossom End Rot in tomatoes, or Bitter Pit in apples. In addition, it is now widely accepted that modern fruit and vegetables contain far less mineral nutrients (such as calcium) which are essential for meeting human nutritional demands." As such the team at Plater Bio believe that Gold Leaf is set to become a major new tool employed by farmers in all sectors in the near future.
Gold Leaf is now being tested by potential distribution partners globally and Plater Bio are happy to speak with organizations looking to partner on realizing the full potential of Gold Leaf.
Plater Bio is to exhibit at the GreenTech exhibition June 12-13-14 in Amsterdam. Find them in hall 10, stand 111.
For more information on the GreenTech exhibition and the GreenTech Summit, check out www.greentech.nl.
For more information:
Plater Bio
Publication date: 5/10/2018